Gifted students need challenges

More than 30 years ago, Ellen Fiedler received a call from school saying that her son, Joel, tested at an 8th grade reading level. Joel was five.

"I knew he was bright, but I had no idea quite how bright," Fiedler remembers. She asked the school what they were going to do with him, but the plan wasn't clear.

When Joel was in second grade, Fiedler's family moved to a school where teachers did not know about Joel. Not wanting to be one of "those parents," Fielder had only written on Joel's school records that he might be "very precocious intellectually."

"It was rough on him," Fiedler says. Her son told her, "'I'm not doing the second grade work, because it's dumb and boring.'"

"(He) exploded in class, had a sit down strike and refused to do anything. That same day he yelled at the music teacher and then spread soap suds all over the floor of the art room."

She says the teacher finally told her, "He's smarter than I am." Fiedler explains that it wasn't about smarts, but rather about providing opportunities.

Online Resources:

• Hoagies' Gifted Education Page: Compilation of very highly reliable information from various experts throughout the world on numerous topics having to do with gifted children.

Students identified as gifted can exhibit outstanding intellectual abilities in several areas or in one area such as math, English, science, reading, music, problems solving or the creative arts. All gifted students require more information at a faster, deeper level in order to feel stimulated. These kids ask questions and demand answers at a more profound level than other children. They also can react negatively to a lack of challenge in the classroom.

While some educators may see fast talking and a whirring mind signs of hyperactivity, for a gifted child, this may be the norm.

Identifying giftedness

Denise Bresson, director of curriculum and professional development for Portage Public Schools, says, "It's almost always the teacher that identifies this student is very advanced compared to his peers."

Identifying giftedness happens in various ways, Bresson says, depending on grade levels and talents identified. In the younger grades, identification usually happens through a teacher recommendation and a parent conference.

Further testing can identify how many grade levels ahead the child is. By third through fifth grade, many gifted kids score higher on OLSAT testing.

Gifted children may also be identified through MEAP, STAR, and DIBELS test scores. Scoring above grade level on a test isn't an automatic entrance into a gifted and talented program, but Bresson says educators consider them in the equation.

"Almost always," Bresson says, "the students we identify through the testing are also recommended (for gifted and talented support) by their teacher."

"You can tell people until you are blue the face that your kid is talented, but if you don't have a number to prove it, especially in math, (it can be difficult to get the educators to listen)," she says. Janecke waited until her daughter's testing skills caught up with her abilities before pursuing gifted education.

Janecke says when talking to parents of poor testers, "I don't have a lot of answer for people whose kids don't test well. It's very hard."

She notes that some gifted kids may have learning difficulties like dyslexia or an emotional condition right along with giftedness.

"Special-ed can often go with gifted and talented," she says.

This is the second in a three-part series on education. Next month: Educating the autistic children.